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Introducing the next release in Names You Can Trust's long-running collaboration with the prolific and symbiotic musical universe of Bogotá, Colombia. Mau Gatiyo y Los Años Maravillosos formed in 2021, arising from the very same fertile ground of the Teusaquillo neighborhood that has spawned many records and musical mischievousness. At the heart of this experimental movement is what can only be described asTropicanibalismo, where a deep hunger for the roots of Colombian tropical music are only satiated by dissecting it, consuming it and ultimately creating something new again as some kind of untraditional, unholy, and yet referential form of musical sustenance.

Within this concept, there's a clear lineage of inspired and visionary artists that have been featured throughout NYCT's record catalog for the last 15 years that includes luminaries Frente Cumbiero, Meridian Brothers, and Romperayo. Each of these artists' tentacles have touched several parallel projects from their talented neighbors and friends, and whether through production, playing, engineering, or mixing, these collaborations have heavily contributed to a very fruitful and colorful scene that could only exist within Colombia's capital, while also gaining notoriety in the nooks and crannies of northern latitudes like New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles.

Mau Gatiyo, a talented accordian player and vocalist, together with his group (translated as The Wonder Years), is precisely one of these projects, a collective that has found their calling in the echoes of thevallenatosandcumbiasthat once populated the nation's airwaves throughout the 20th century. It's a traditional format that has always lent itself to storytelling, whether it be anecdotes about daily life, or using one's voice to raise uncomfortable questions in protest against the system. This is where Mau Gatiyo's poetic, almostnew wavetimbre finds a lane of its own, straddling a 2020s societal landscape under the guise of ostensibly old-time accordion music.

The debut 7-inch from the group, an excerpt from their recently released album Baño Unisex, was recorded at Mambo Negro studios by Ivan Medellin (La Sonora Mazurén) and mixed by Eblis Alvarez of Meridian Brothers, both familiar names and contributors to the NYCT catalog. Alvarez himself, who has emerged in recent years as an international beacon of this new tropical avant-garde, is no stranger to flipping traditional styles on their head, or at least respectfully off-kilter. Mau Gatiyo y sus Años Maravillosos proves to be another great vessel for this veryBogotano expression, draping the classical playing of its group members in a modern day cosmopolitan expression of righteousness, both outwardly in their dashing, performative fashion sense, and lyrically with their cheeky "420, Reloj"ganja-tune promotion – or even their outward dissenter objections to paramilitary and firearm power in "Poder Militar."

Ultimately, these songs lie at the crossroads where two cultural eras connect and become something unique, a protestation one with performance, dance, and artistic expression. This cathartic ritual of protest has a storied history in music, and these two new entries into the NYCT catalog will hopefully find their place amongst a modern day canon, or at the very least, have your feet moving and your head nodding in just approval.

Garth Erasmus is an artist and musician based in Cape Town, South Africa. 'Threnody for the KhoiSan' is his first album under his own name. Since 1985 his artistic interests have broadened to include music-making, designing and making his own instruments based on indigenous KhoiSan knowledge. From 1999 to 2012 he was a member of the South African First Nation activist group Khoi Khonnexion. In the past couple of years Garth Erasmus has also been a pivotal part of various international performance pieces and exhibition projects which brought him regularly to Europe. Most of these activities were developed and performed in collaboration with the Hamburg based band Kante and his band Khoi Khonnexion. In April 2024 Garth Erasmus will be part of the group exhibtion 'Oscillations' at Akademie der Künste, Berlin.

His works in music are predominantly characterized by a restless quest for alternative forms of expression and materials including self build instruments, field recordings or various electronic music devices.

In this context the music on 'Threnody for the KhoiSan' takes on a primal and metaphorical meaning. Rather than a formal, physical initiation, this process is more spiritually inclined, yet it is a spirituality which is consistently put into action.. “Ever since I was an art student I have experimented with alternative materials to release me from the Western education values I received. When I started to make these instruments in the 1980s, my intention was to create art objects but when I discovered the sound they made, it unlocked a door that transported me deeper in my quest in the realization that I was on the right path.

In fact all instruments which appear on 'Threnody for the KhoiSan' are products of a process of discovery starting from square one. All this is based and founded on the beauty of simplicity and minimalism as symbolized by the single string Khoisan musical bow and arrow as trance musical instrument. In this sense it soon became manisfest for Garth Erasmus to combine the bow instruments with various electronic instruments. Besides developing his own unique language in music he also shared an expressed interested in experimental sound aesthecis, Avantgarde composition and Free Jazz. However, his non - academic approach towards sound and music was always fueled by the desire for a reconnection to the land and to the idegenious knowledge of the KhoiSan, whose struggle for First Nation status continues.

Song for Morenga
This song is dedicated to a guerilla leader, named Jacob Morenga, who was the leader of the nama/herero anti-german uprisings that occured between 1904 and 1907.

Amaseh Amen
This is a classic mouthbow piece that conjures the spiritual nature of Khoisan cultural praxis.

Gwaing Reverie
It was composed as a personal gift to the other members of newly formed electro-acoustic trio „Gwaing". „Gwaing" is an ancient Khoisan place name, meaning the mouth of the river.

Mcinci Song
A typical meditation on the traditional Mcinci flute. This flute was originally played by shepherds and was made of reed.

The Ascension of Milford Graves
This piece attends to capture the risen spirit of the legendary African American drummer Milford Graves. It was composed soon after his death in 2021.

Song for The Sisters of the Soil
A live improvisation dedicated to Lucelle and Melissa (The Sisters of the Soil) on the occasion of visiting them at their residence, known as „Oppieyaart" on the Cape Flats. On 10 September 2022 there is an online event with them at Kunsthaus Hamburg.

First EP from the RODF Sound System, based in center Japan.

A side brings a superb live : full of ideas and good surprises, kick changes, hypnotic sparks and breakbeats supports. Fresh and absolutly not dark ! Wicked !!

The flip opens with a deep mental Yogi bassline and a sweet Tribe pumpin kick...
The second tune is an experimental Tribe track, melting the SPAZ californian's oldschool ambiances to the KGB01 69DB Hit Hat... Xp oldschool i'd say ??

A japaneese production for the newskool underground never die fever !

Enjoy !

WRWTFWW Records is flying high as it announces the reissue of the 1997 ambient masterpiece Quiet Logic by electronic music visionaries Mixmaster Morris (The Irresistible Force), Jonah Sharp (Spacetime Continuum), and Haruomi Hosono (Yellow Magic Orchestra). For the first time ever, this iconic album is available on vinyl as a double LP with a heavy 350gsm sleeve, as well as on digipack CD and digitally.
Quiet Logic invites listeners to embark on a captivating sonic odyssey, blending intricate rhythms and celestial environments that push the boundaries of electronic music. Co-crafted at Haruomi Hosono's Tokyo studio in 1997, this album represents a time of rapid transformation in the genre, with these three artists at the forefront of redefining soundscapes.
With its unique blend of influences from Hosono's immense contribution to electronic, pop, and experimental music to Morris' worldwide chill out DJ performances and Sharp's pioneering label, Reflective, Quiet Logic remains a timeless piece of ethereal electronica. It was originally only released in Japan in CD format on the Harry Hosono-curated Daisyworld Discs label.
Remastered for 2024, this reissue is a must-have for fans of Haruomi Hosono / YMO, The Irresistible Force, Spacetime Continuum, Dreamfish, Tetsu Inoue, FFWD, H.I.A., Fax +49-69/450464, and mind-expanding musics.
Immerse yourself now.
Quiet Logic is pressed on biovinyl, a sustainable alternative to traditional vinyl. Biovinyl replaces petroleum in S-PVC by recycling used cooking oil or industrial waste gases, resulting in 100% CO2 savings in bio-based S-PVC production. Furthermore, it is 100% recyclable and reusable, embracing the circular economy ideology.

Maria Chiara Argirò's album "Closer" departs from her prior work, fueled by an indescribable, dreamlike feeling. The album's core duality of blurred lines and clarity reflects Argirò's philosophy. A philosophy encapsulated in the urgency of her production process and the unique lucidity with which she weaves ambient, dance, jazz, and experimental pop seamlessly together. The album defies easy definition, emphasising an inner self-discovery process, detached from external influences, not only breaking sonic ground but signifying a deeply personal journey, anchoring Argirò to her creation. Argirò has previously seen critical success with support from Pitchfork, The FADER, FLOOD, Brooklyn Vegan and Clash Magazine. “Closer” will be released on the 26th of April 2024

Following on from his Mesh debut Jinjé returns with Escape from Luna, a four-track EP expanding further on the infinite sonic worlds of his solo production work.

Lead single and opening track ‘BBLO’ launches with a voyage into detailed textural layers, gliding through microscopic ambient-leaning compositions before dropping into a weighty electronic beat with touches of electro and dub.

As a founding member of the Leeds-based experimental band Vessels - an act acclaimed for their ability to defy categorisation - Lee Malcolm is no stranger to breaking the boundaries of genre. With his solo project, Jinjé, he delves into atypical sonic wanderings that navigate between acoustic and electronic, synthetic and organic, employing a learned ear for the fusion of seemingly disparate elements. For this latest release on Mesh, he hones in on these moments of coalescence, fusing various stylistic pieces together with an infectious sense of optimism and an open mind.

Jinjé steers his work across various genres not out of a desire to be referential, but out of a necessity to explore the peculiar spaces that sit between. Implementing this approach with a great understanding of musical production and spatial composition, ‘Escape from Luna’ stands as a crucial documentation of his craft.

Bruno Berle, the young songwriter and poet originally hailing from Maceió, the capital of Brazil’s Alagoas state, crafts songs that are simple, direct, and full of tender nuance. With his first album No Reino Dos Afetos (which translates to "In the Realm of Affections” and was released in 2022), Berle firmly established himself as a unique and important voice in the burgeoning scene of new Brazilian artists making a global impact, including peers like Ana Frango Elétrico, Tim Bernardes, Bala Desejo, Sessa and more. Now back with his second album, No Reino Dos Afetos 2, he stretches that further.

Bruno Berle’s music lives between two worlds – a traditional Brazilian folk talent steeped in history, and a contemporary, dreamy electronic pop; the result is songwriting that’s genre-bending, intentional, iconoclastic and consuming, spacious and sinewy and singular, a striking reflection of its composer while leaving space for the listener to settle in. The album follows Bruno’s relocation to São Paulo, and the songs are a reflection of his past and present. A rebuke of former categorizations of his work in Brazilian music scenes, and an idea of where his music can move, unfettered.

Berle’s music is purposeful in being a true portrait of himself, and a reflection of the music, art, and fashion scenes he personally moves through. Berle aims to provide an entrypoint for Black queer joy in his music, in his storytelling, in his presence and vision as a creative. For him, it feels subversive to be playing MPB laced with dubstep and lo-fi, a sort of intentional sacrilege, capturing a dialogue of modernity in traditional music.

Berle wrote most of the arrangements and co-produced his new album, Reino Dos Afetos 2 with longtime friend and musical partner Batata Boy, who is also from Maceió; the album was recorded in Rio de Janeiro, Maceió, and São Paulo, his new home, and picks up the conversation begun in 2022 on Berle’s debut album No Reino dos Afetos. Both records are the result of a nonlinear but coherent seven-year music creation process culminating in these albums, holding hands across space and time.

“Tirolirole,” the first single from the record, was released at the end of 2023; sun-soaked rhythms and soft voice coat the song, the lilting refrain of “Tirolirole” throughout – hushed, gentle, but somehow almost tactile, a golden-hour moment unlocked in the mind. “Tirolirole” is a triumphant future classic about the temporality of a blossoming love, with Bruno’s stunning vocal soaring over melodies which ebb and flow like the waters on the Atlantic shore. Of the track, Berle explains: “Despite ‘Tirolirole’ being an expression that evokes my childhood, just like the light words about nature, the harmony, and the poetry are epic, carrying a great hope for love.”

In fact, the guiding theme of No Reino dos Afetos 2 is a relationship, unfolding in the arc of a weekend. It traverses the innocence of an early young love, how that can be formative, can stretch on to take new shapes, or shape you. The album happens at the genesis of meeting someone and falling for them, before the relationship is thrown into overdrive – set in a big city, against a backdrop of major life changes, rising energy, the sound of São Paulo.

Something transcendental emerges in “Dizer Adeus,” with an arrangement that echoes a gospel atmosphere (evangelical and Catholic environments were pivotal to Berle’s upbringing). On “É Só Você Chegar,” piano and flute gracefully intertwine, a dance, while “Quando Penso” skews sparser, the voice-and-guitar minimalism somehow cultivating an entirely different shape – somehow both cozy and melancholy, with the background sound of a rainy day. Coupled with the lo-fi aspects that shape much of the album’s personality in the vocals and the production, No Reino Dos Afetos 2 is meticulously elaborated by Berle’s sonic alchemy, like on the mid-album instrumental “Sonho,” which feels like floating. “It’s the apex. It’s when lovers are sleeping together,” Berle explains of the feeling he wanted to encapsulate in the song.

On “Love Comes Back” Berle interprets Arthur Russell, the late Iowa musician who only reached greater visibility after he died in 1992. “His way of making music is similar to mine,” Berle explains. “He sings in a more fragile way, has more of an experimental way of recording, letting ‘chance’ appear in the final work.”

Even so, Berle doesn’t want his music to be buried in sentimentality – and the purposefulness of his craft serves as a sort of north star. The production, the arrangements, his restraint and intentionality in crafting his songs feel just as vital as their emotional cores. His songwriting is amorphous, fluid, an encompassing genre-bending movement in-and-of-itself, quietly daring. The songs are often in conversation with other works – drinking in fountains as diverse as the filmmaking of Ingmar Bergman, the poetry of Walt Whitman, the rhythm of Djavan, and the painting of Maxwell Alexandre. Musically he weaves together a rich tapestry of Brazilian folk, UK 2-step garage/dub, trip hop and sun soaked west coast songwriters; something akin to the worlds of Milton Nascimento, Arthur Russell, James Blake, Feist, and Sade colliding into one. But even then No Reino Dos Afetos 2 floats separately, a romanticism driven by a simplicity and intimacy, an open-ended possibility, Berle’s singularity as an artist at the helm of the ship.

FIRST 100 ORDERS COME WITH A DOUGLAS DARE OMNI CONDOM, ON A FIRST COME FIRST SERVED BASIS**First Pressing on Limited Translucent Red Vinyl**British artist Douglas Dare announces the release of his fourth album Omni. Seen by Douglas himself as a bold rebirth and embrace of the electronic, Omni is all at once a throbbing, avant-garde, queer, dark and cinematic record imbued with a love of rave culture and sense of fearless storytelling that’s deeply evocative. Omni will be released on May 10 via Erased Tapes. To mark the announcement, Douglas today shares the first taster of the record with ‘Mouth To Mouth’, a pulsing, synth-laden track that begs to be played loud. ‘Mouth To Mouth’ sees a collaboration with label mate Daniel Brandt who appears on production duties, with beats supplied by Rival Consoles. Speaking on the track, Douglas says, “life, death, fate and orgies; this is the heartfelt club track I always wanted to write.” Since 2013, Douglas has blurred classical, chamber-pop, folk and avant-garde to dazzling effect, with a startling voice that can stop you in your tracks. It’s why he’s played with luminaries like Nils Frahm, Perfume Genius and Ólafur Arnalds, and was selected by David Lynch and The Cure’s Robert Smith for their respective cultural festivals in Manchester (MIF) and London (Meltdown). But Douglas’s fourth album, Omni, is a fresh awakening. Encouraged by Erased Tapes founder Robert Raths, he decided to step away from acoustic instruments, especially the piano he grew up playing, and swapped them for synths and drum machines. His new music has much in common with Arca and the late SOPHIE, two artists for whom self-expression meant liberation. “I got to hang out in the studio with her,” says Douglas of the latter musician, “the way she made music made a big impression on me.” And yet Omni is steeped in the kind of deft storytelling, sweeping strings, elegant contrasts and fairytale atmosphere that marks Douglas out as a crucial and singular voice. It’s not often you hear a strutting electro banger that could have been straight out of 90s Soho, with vocal loops inspired by US experimentalist Meredith Monk. For Douglas, Omni is about reconciling all those different sides of himself – the songwriter, the raver, the lover, the observer. It’s a hugely queer record: seductive, sexy, lusty, untethered from the genre binary. “It’s even got sailors on it!” laughs Douglas. “You don’t get more queer than that.

Memories are, to say the least, complex. They can weigh us down like stones or be treasured in their unresolved ambivalence. In Ciro Vitiello’s debut album, they take on a dynamic and elusive nature, both bouncy and tricky, moving away when approached and dipping into the haze of the subconscious. Dreams, in turn, find their shape through memory itself. The Island Of Bouncy Memories is, for Vitiello, a place populated by reveries and hypnagogic impressions, interwoven with the imprints of childhood experiences—a threshold between the comforting embrace of nostalgia and the acceptance of adulthood.

The album's inception traces back to a collection of toy recordings initially amassed by Vitiello as a backdrop for his wide-weave synthetic fabric. Evolving these initial sketches, the Naples-born artist intended the 13 tracks to form a continuous flux of undeciphered impressions. Repeating motifs phase in and out of the cloudy ambience, punctuating the inevitable waves of melancholy with delicate melodic structures.

Crucial to the album's development were contributions from vocalist Zimmy, vocalist/guitarist CRÆBABE and guitarist Attilio Novellino. Their input not only expanded the sonic palette but also cultivated themes and poetic scenarios through intense and sincere exchanges of personal experiences, recurring dreams, and childhood remembrances. CRÆBABE’s lyrics, in particular, provide an adult counterpoint to the album's more childlike elements—a map of murmured relics and epiphanies as she sits in conversation with herself.

The music's emotional depth envelops Vitiello's Island in an ocean of pure sensitivity, its tides drifting through apparitions of talking animals, reminiscent of those in his recurring dreams. At other times, it reflects the tragic echoes of Nisida—an island off the coast of Naples, infamous for hosting a youth detention center.

The Island of Bouncy Memories is a meditative reconnection with the past, a puzzling journey through pain and acceptance. Notably it marks the first-ever co-production between Hundebiss and Haunter Records, uniting two main players in the Italian electronic and experimental scene in an unprecedented collaboration.

Earth, Our Planet?”: A call for environmental awareness. This time, Pedro Vian - the founder of Modern Obscure Music - presents his fourth solo album (following his 2020 release, "Ibillorca"). Due for release in spring 2024, "Earth, Our Planet?" promises to immerse us in a moving odyssey, crossing the boundaries of musical genres to provoke an urgent meditation on the protection of our planet. On this occasion Vian has composed the album influenced by the myth of the eternal return, the compositions are long and repetitive, generating states of pure trance.
Pedro Vian, singular for his fusion of genres and styles, ventures into even more complex territories in "Earth, Our Planet?". From the first listen, it is evident that this work treads the line of convention and breaks the boundaries of electronic and experimental music with artistic dexterity. The album weaves together texture, hypnotic rhythms and melody. Each track reveals his distinctive ability to create immersive landscapes, guiding the listener into deep emotional introspection. This is not just music; it is a transformative experience.
The beauty of this album lies not only in the musical vision. The album features high-calibre collaborations that add layers of creativity and elegance. Trumpeter Pierre Bastien, whose early productions left an indelible mark on Aphex Twin's Reflex label, infuses "A Day in Rotterdam" with a unique emotional resonance. Violinist, Asia, renowned for her avant-garde approach and ability to conjure unique landscapes, elevates the album's opening tracks "Urobóros" and "Les Tambours Subterraniens". Their skill and sensitivity intertwine perfectly with Vian's artistic vision. In addition, Italian producer Daniele Mana, with whom Pedro Vian collaborated closely on his previous album "Cascades", known for his experimental approach and talent for creating extraterrestrial atmospheres also contributes to "Les Tambours Subterraniens". His artistic perspective adds more complexity and texture to the piece, pushing the boundaries of contemporary electronic music. There is also a collaboration with Raül Refree, an artist with whom Vian worked with last year, presenting “Font De la Vera Pau”, an album that The Guardian defined as "a wonderful piece of electroacoustic music, a captivating mix of strings and analogue synth drones which sometimes flirts with Alice Coltrane-ish spiritual jazz". With "Earth, Our Planet?", Pedro Vian not only offers up some of his best work to date, but it is also a call to reflect on our relationship with the natural world. As a part of a planet where environmental awareness is more crucial than ever, he urges us to protect and preserve our world as an extension of ourselves. This extensive work is a statement, Vian addresses the notion that too often we prioritise immediate needs over the well-being of the planet. It highlights the fact that we often consider the Earth as a possession when, in reality, we are but a part of it.

Following on from his Mesh debut Jinjé returns with Escape from Luna, a four-track EP expanding further on the infinite sonic worlds of his solo production work.

Lead single and opening track ‘BBLO’ launches with a voyage into detailed textural layers, gliding through microscopic ambient-leaning compositions before dropping into a weighty electronic beat with touches of electro and dub.

As a founding member of the Leeds-based experimental band Vessels - an act acclaimed for their ability to defy categorisation - Lee Malcolm is no stranger to breaking the boundaries of genre. With his solo project, Jinjé, he delves into atypical sonic wanderings that navigate between acoustic and electronic, synthetic and organic, employing a learned ear for the fusion of seemingly disparate elements. For this latest release on Mesh, he hones in on these moments of coalescence, fusing various stylistic pieces together with an infectious sense of optimism and an open mind.

Jinjé steers his work across various genres not out of a desire to be referential, but out of a necessity to explore the peculiar spaces that sit between. Implementing this approach with a great understanding of musical production and spatial composition, ‘Escape from Luna’ stands as a crucial documentation of his craft.

Monika Enterprise welcomes a new act to her roster with Berlin based experimental pop duo Post Neo releasing their new EP. Individually known as Nicole Luján and Pauline Weh, both musicians pursued their own solo projects before forming the duo Post Neo. On “Alles Immer Wieder” they combine as more than the sum of their parts to produce 5 songs of dark and powerful experimental avant- pop which is released as an exclusive 10” vinyl.

Pauline and Nicole met making music in Berlin during the summer of 2019 and kept collaborating online, until Nicole moved to Berlin in 2022. The musicians' different musical backgrounds result in diverse intuitions which complement each other perfectly when producing tracks together - Nicole was more into synthesis and electronic music production in Mexico City while Pauline received a classical piano education in Munich before she started doing electronic music.

In 2022 they released their first EP, «do you?», which consists of five tracks that were composed and produced as an inter-continental project between Berlin and Mexico City. In autumn of that year Post Neo received a residency at Sternhagen Gut from Musicboard Berlin where they caught the ear of monika head Gudrun Gut who was so taken with their compelling mix of techno beats and dreamy melancholic atmospheres she immediately signed them to her label.

The EP’s opening and title track “Alles Immer Wieder” (trans. Everything again and again) is a reflection on repetition and monotony as transcendence in the form of sleep, dreams, work and other daily cycles. The rhythmic juxtapositions and tempo shifts make for a captivating opening track. “Ganz Schön Was Los” (trans. A lot happening) has a proper synthwave electro pop vibe while the vocals lend a little light hearted humanity to the otherwise calculated computer music aesthetic. With its fusion of synthesizers and drum machines track B1 “Die Verwirrung” (trans. The confusion) brings a sense of melancholic doom. The flow of B2 “Wenn Wir Wüssten” (trans. If we knew what would happen) is a future-focused reflection on the unidirectional movement of time's arrow. Sampled harmonies and instrumental breakdowns make it possibly the most emotive track on the EP. And the record comes to a close with “Dreh dich” (trans. Turn around) which lures us in with delicate vocals before menacing synthesizer sounds blast us into oblivion. It is an invitation to turn the record over and start listening from the beginning again.

Post Neo’s music is steeped in minimalism: at once managing to be hugely expressive and evocative while still retaining a sense of privacy and mystery for the listener to decrypt. Like all great pop music their songs are musically captivating while also conveying a strong message. As their band name suggests, Post Neo are essentially futuristic and with live shows at some of Berlin’s hottest underground venues under their belt as well as in their hometowns of Munich and Mexico City, plus the release of „Alles Immer Wieder“ in 2024, great things are in store for the electronic pop duo.

New York City"s Jennifer Vanilla, aka Jennifer Vanilla and Brian Abelson, offered a portal into a colourful world of innovative electronic sound with their 2022 debut album "Castle In The Sky", traversing new wave, post-punk, art pop, and experimental R&B. Now Love Injection, the multi-faceted brainchild of Barbie Bertisch and Paul Raffaele comprising a print magazine, radio show, record label, and production duo breathe new life into one of the album"s standout tracks "Jennifer Pastoral" on home turf, in the form of a 12" single alongside two ethereal mixes featuring maestros Dave Darlington on mixing duties and Francois Kevorkian as mastering engineer.

Yuko Kureyama returns to TAL with the album Heart Fresh, her first ever full length release under her Kopy moniker. All tracks for the album were recorded in Tokyo in June 2023 at the famous live house Ochiai Soup. For the recordings of the ten tracks, Ochiai Soup was swiftly converted into a recording studio as the intimate atmosphere of the club and its perfect room acoustics gave Kopy the chance to record her music like in a live situation.

Amazingly Kopy‘s instrumentation on Heart Fresh consists only of a Jomox x Base 09 rhythm machine and an Elektron Digitakt mini sampler. In the hands of Kopy this fairly basic and common gear creates an unmistakeably intuitive and original approach to drum programming, which is recognizably her very own.

Due to extensive live playing in the past two years, Kopy has garnered a lot of admiration for her consistently unpredictable and fearless club performances and has easily become one of the most exciting and inventive live acts from the ever vibrating electronic music scene in Japan.

However, Heart Fresh seems even more focused, urgent and ambitious than its predecessors, the Paredo EP (TAL12 including a remix by Lena Willikens), the Eternal EP (TAL 24 featuring a remix by Elena Colombi) and the split album Super Mild (TAL15). Nothing on Heart Fresh is subdued. The entire production is resonating with its peculiar frequencies, it is wonderfully evocative, open hearted, full of life and intelligence.

The album opens with Night Sarkas with quirky snare rolls played against slashing, nervy chunks of melody. Samples of organ and chimes evoke an rollercoaster spinning out of tune and synch. Hole Hole is a beat driven and melody free short story for bass drum, snare and hi hat with constantly changing bpm‘s. Tir Tone marks the arrival of annunciatory rhythm patterns and a lovely sprinkling of distorted synths. The album's final track Moonlight Pool is the perfect closer for an album of taut, free wheeling figurations of meter and tone, a nod to classical ambient music as well as to contemporary more experimental digressions.

However, the album’s most startling and unexpected moments come when Kopy follows her futuristic inclinations and matches them with dissonant excoriations that shuttle the mind into a completely different place where all kinds of different activities seem to follow their own individual compasses. Imagine to walk down the noisy streets in Tokyo and you hear all kinds of different sounds infiltrating your ears independently from different sources and directions. In that sense Heart Fresh is the most appropriate soundtrack we can imagine for the contemporary era.

“Black Ark in Dub” is an album that belongs to Lee Perry’s series of dub albums, showcasing his innovative sound experiments. Particularly notable for its creative use of sound effects, echoes, and studio manipulations characteristic of dub aesthetics, “Black Ark in Dub” has often been praised for its creativity and influence on the dub genre. The album bears witness to Lee Perry’s experimental genius and his ability to push the boundaries of music production. Unavailable for many years, it is now released in a limited edition on SILVER vinyl.

The vinyl is pressed as a silver disc.

Anna Gréta goes gentle...into her second album on ACT, “Star of Spring”. The Reykjavik-born pianist, singer and a songwriter, who has lived in Stockholm since 2014, has her own way of approaching the art of quiet, artful, deeply personal songs, often drawing inspiration from the beauty and power of Iceland’s natural landscape. Her 2021 ACT debut "Nightjar in the Northern Sky" was named after a bird, and this follow-up album lands gracefully on a flower, the “glory of the snow”, also known as the "star of spring", which symbolises the ending of winter and the arrival of spring.

But look closer, and there are always other levels of meaning. Her "Nightjar”, the rare bird she once saw in front of the northern sky, was a metaphor for the search for the things which are special and essential. In fact, almost all of Anna Gréta's lyrics have more than one significance, and her storytelling has now taken a leap forward on "Star of Spring". She says of the little flower on the title track: "I wasn't just inspired by the way it takes over the meadows in spring and turns them from green to blue, but also by the fact that it blooms because it is compelled to do so. It cannot do anything else."

Anna Gréta's starting point to creating music was and is the piano. She first studied classical music, then switched to jazz. She only started singing later, when she was writing the songs for Nightjar and wanted to express herself in words. Anna Gréta's debut as a singer, pianist and songwriter earned her international acclaim: Downbeat Magazine called it „an album with the metamophoric diversity of a year’s seasons and a voice like the everchanging colours of the Northern lights“, France Musique “a remarkably immersive experience” and Jazzwise “starkly beautiful”.

On "Star Of Spring" Anna Gréta has further developed her individual style. Her vocal lines can resemble piano motifs, often doubling them and resonating with an impressively quiet vibrato, sometimes quirkily reminiscent of Björk, at other times with the brooding ease of Norah Jones. The album also bears a very distinctive production style. For each of the songs, Anna Gréta has created her own little world of choirs, rhythmic textures and various smartly used keyboard instruments. The album ranges from the hymnal and elegiac - in "She Moves" or in the title track - to the playful and cheerful "Space Time" or the extremely pared-down melancholic ballad "Denouement". And even if the general mood of the music exudes above all warmth and comfort, Anna Gréta also deals with serious topics, such as the forced birth control of women in Greenland during the 60s and 70s in the song "The Body Remembers".

There is a directness of expression and emotionality, even sensuousness about the new album, and that is not least because Anna Gréta’s band has developed and become a properly played-in unit with the experience to take this album’s more complex arrangements in its stride. The sheen and brightness of her piano playing is contrasted with a deeper voice, that of her father Sigurður Flosason's bass clarinet, on three tracks. "This album is more playful and experimental," she says. "A lot of things were easier for me than on the first album. And while I was still completely focussed on my own world then, now I was even more conscious and aware of what was going on around me."

The result is music that is rooted in jazz, but at the same time goes far beyond it in a very subtle and deeply touching way.

INVOLUCIJA is an experimental post-industrial collaboration with artists from ex-Yugoslavian countries, started by Michel Morin (Sneak-Thief / Polygamy Boys) and Lucija Invo.

This 2×12″ on their new Berlin label expands on their 2023 debut EP on aufnahme+wiedergabe with even fiercer inspiration from EBM, techno & Balkan musical traditions.

“Involution” is a metaphor for the ever-entangling depth of our situation – the world falls apart then re-organizes itself with unexpected and sometimes distressing connections. Increasing effort is demanded for our “productivity” and our only reward is diminishing returns. Enough is enough!

INVOLUCIJA is envisioned as a noise abrasive enough to resonate with and overcome this ever-increasing discomfort from which we try to dissociate.

We call this euphoric deprogramming.”

MIZU’s Forest Scenes is an experimental project at its core - an exploration of the vast possibilities of the cello (as a melodic instrument, as a seed for digital manipulation, as a percussive and resonant body) within a forest of electronically synthesized sounds, found samples, and vocals. Conceived and composed primarily over the course of two inspired weeks in Summer 2022 during a visit to São Paulo, Brazil (following the completion of MIZU’s debut Distant Intervals), Forest Scenes is a journey within oneself as much as a journey into the unknowns of various woodlands and uncharted, yet-to-be-explored territories. The title, while referencing Robert Schumann's hidden gem of a piano work Waldszenen, makes no overt musical odes to its Romantic predecessor; rather, it creates an entirely new narrative and language of its own. Cinematic in composition and production, the album relishes in darkness and mystery as much as the excitements and joys of pure exploration.

The vinyl is pressed as a colour in colour, pink & red disc.

Emerging out of Amsterdam's vibrant squat scene in 1979, The Ex – a name chosen for the ease and speed with which it could be spray-painted onto a wall – have for four decades been an entirely self-sustaining musical entity, charting a course through the global underground with a spirit of freedom and radical exploration.

Blueprints For A Blackout, The Ex's fifth album and first double LP, combines caustic studio experimentations and loose songs from their gripping live-set at the time. The band consisted of singer G.W. Sok, guitarist Terrie Ex, two new recruits on bass, Luc and Yoke, and drummer Sabien Witteman, along with a plethora of guests including Mekons' Jon Langford and long-serving sound engineer Dolf Planteijdt, among others.

Originally released in 1984 on the band's own Pig Brother Productions, Blueprints veers from jagged punk explosions to sharply focused improvisations featuring field recordings that would become a hallmark of their subsequent forays into free jazz and experimental music. The overall effect is not unlike the menace of a slowly building winter storm.

Tracks like "Rabble With A Cause," "U.S. Hole" and "Scrub That Scum" stand out as exemplars of this phase of The Ex. Comparisons can be made to contemporaries Einstürzende Neubauten, NoMeansNo and Svätsox as well as later Crass label bands.

»Other Rooms« is an uncompromisingly adventurous and engaging listen. It manages the rare feat of remaining concise while brimming with detail and inventiveness.

Ten years into a multifaceted career in experimental sound, Belgium’s Adriaan de Roover presents »Other Rooms«, his second solo album and a product of the thoroughly unexpected things we all experience, from societal freeze to the dissolution of individual relationships. Originally recorded for a performance with Fennesz at Église Notre-Dame de Laeken in 2020, »Other Rooms« was reworked into its final form in 2023. De Roover notes an inspiration from »looking at different versions of a life, sitting in a space between them; a constant focus on those alternate things... What if, what if.« It is introspective music informed by a desire for connection to oneself, to others, and to the boundless scale of everything else.

»Other Rooms« is Adriaan’s second outing through the acclaimed Dauw imprint, which is also the home to Midori Hirano, Dylan Henner, H.Takahashi, Lieven Martens and Taylor Deupree. Stepping back from rhythm-oriented motifs, this latest work is a concise but varied collection of weightless melodies and expertly sculpted, computerized soundscapes.